National Flip Flop Day encourages everyone to kick off their winter boots and embrace the footwear of summer. Tropical Smoothie Café wants it customers to get a special treat for celebrating summer and supporting important charitable organization.

On Friday, June 20, customers who stop by any participating Tropical Smoothie Cafe location nationwide between the hours of 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. wearing flip flops will receive a free 24 oz. Jetty Punch Smoothie.

In addition to the promotion, customers can show their support for Camp Sunshine. Customers who purchase a $5 flip flop key fob will be rewarded with a 10 percent discount on all future purchases through the end of the year. Online donations are also accepted at www.nationalflipflopday.com.

For eight years, Tropical Smoothie Cafe has supported Camp Sunshine. This year's goal is to raise more than $600,000 for the organization that brings sunshine for kids with life-threatening illnesses and their families.

“We are proud to support Camp Sunshine and everything the organization stands for,” said Tropical Smoothie Café CEO Mike Rotondo. “Camp Sunshine gives kids with life-threatening illnesses and their families a much-needed break. It’s a chance to leave behind the doctor visits, medical tests and anxious waits for results – if only for a week.”

For more than 25 years, Camp Sunshine has offered kids and their families a getaway from the difficulties of their everyday lives. Located on the shores of Lake Sebago in Maine, Camp Sunshine is the only nonprofit organization in the nation whose mission is to address the impact of a life-threatening illness on every member of the immediate family. Parents receive support from medical staff and others who can relate to what they are going through first-hand, while kids get to be kids, have fun, and get away from the stresses of everyday life living with their unique disorders.

The cost of sending one child with a life-threatening illness and their family to this special retreat for a week is $2,000, and Camp Sunshine relies on donations from corporate supporters, like Tropical Smoothie Café, and individual donors to continue to offer its programs free-of-charge.

“Camp Sunshine is a lifeline for so many families, giving them the gift of treasured memories and precious time with the ones they love and others that can relate,” said Rotondo. “With the help of our customers, we hope to send even more families to this wonderful camp this year.”

To date, Tropical Smoothie Café has donated more than $2 million to Camp Sunshine, sending 1,000 children and their families to experience the camp. Last year, Tropical Smoothie Café raised a record-breaking $515,000 for Camp Sunshine and the brand plans to exceed that number in 2014 by raising $600,000 which would cover the costs to send 300 families to the camp.

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Cristine has been a Naperville resident for over seven years. As a stay at home mom with young children, she searches for cost effective and fun events for the whole family. With so many options in our area, there is never a reason for kids to sit home and be bored. She can be reached at more4momsbuck@gmail.com.